[MUD-Dev] MMO Quest: Why they're still lousy

[Miroslav Silovic]

kennerly at finegamedesign.com wrote:

> This updating adds additional developer cost, including a higher
> operating cost.  Each additional change requires changing the
> dependencies.  The asymptotic order of growth for a function that
> describes this overhead cost will be worse than linear, probably
> polynomial.  If dependencies of the storylines are not
> partitioned, the overhead could become exponential.  Unlike
> programmed code, written narratives are rarely object-oriented.

I believe that this is the point where it makes sense to consider
doing away with quests altogether - however, by that I mean
pre-written stories that involve specific actions in a specific
world state, to a specific goal. After all, tabletop games don't
work like that at all - GM is supposed to be creative and to adapt
the story to fit the current situation and players' action. Of
course, this sort of adaptation is probably an AI-complete problem
and beyond reach of the current games.

So, why not let the sense of a story emerge from players actions?
Let's take a look at BattleTech MUSHes that had realspace war. This
worked as follows:

  - Players started in a base on a *large* realtime game map
  (500x500 or so)

  - Players would be trained and assigned a mech they could pilot
  (the piloting system was also realtime and *incredibly* detailed)

  - They would also be assigned in a military formation, and have
  regular actions against the enemy

  - Map had control points you could take (bases, factories), and
  you could salvage broken mechs for parts

  - Your faction would earn money and points depending on the action
  success.

That was all. Eventually a faction would die by losing the bases or
by just being ran over by a faction with wastly superior
resources. At that point, the game would end and reset (with new
factions, and player wipe). But the important bit is that the game
had a deep sense of unraveling story arc. There were several sources
of this sense:

  - Each action ended in a report of what happened, written by the
  officer in charge

  - The combat system was detailed enough that story-worthy
  surprises happened all the time

  - *everything* players did would affect the world in a major way
  (including the certainty of its eventual end)

Note, however, that the game didn't have any provisions for
storytelling, any story scenarios, or any designer-written text
(other than small initial world state, defined by the map and the
faction list).

So, I believe you can do away with the quests and let the story
emerge from the medium, that is, from the players interactions, from
player-staff interactions (which then wouldn't be one-way,
handed-down, not-really-interactive 'stories'), and from player-NPC
interactions (provided that NPCs have sufficiently detailed
goal-oriented AI, and ability to ask the players to help them with
some of their goals). Remember, the game is not necessarily about
*storytelling*. All it takes is to create a *sense of story*, that
is, make players believe that they're participating in something
greater than themselves.

    Miro
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